


Mixed Up

by wolfgun



Category: Tales of Zestiria
Genre: Body Swap, Humor, Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-08
Updated: 2016-05-08
Packaged: 2018-06-07 01:35:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,883
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6779908
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wolfgun/pseuds/wolfgun
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A fight with a hellion seemed simple enough, until upon the defeat of it... The group finds themselves in a bit of an odd situation. The lasting malevolence manifested itself into a spell that knocked each of their souls into another's body.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Mixed Up

“Okay, can somebody _please_ remind me again just _why_ we came to this place?”

“C’mon Edna, it’s not like we anticipated this kinda—“ Mikleo was cut off as he was knocked off his feet, a long tail hurling him into the wall behind.

“I’m sorry, Meebo, what was that?”

“Ugh. Just—“

“Hey hey, you two, that’s enough. We all know Sheps here couldn’t leave the plea of that old—“ Zaveid sidestepped with a short yelp as the same tail came crashing down just inches away. “lady behind! Focus on the fight!” He dashed in to scoop Alisha out of the way of a blast from the hellion’s mouth.

Sorey gritted his teeth as he dashed up to the monster’s legs; what was this, some kinda pseudo-dragon? It didn’t have any wings, but it did look reptilian. “Lailah, just what is this thing?” He slashed at the hellion’s scaled limbs with his sword, which didn’t seem to be doing much damage at all…

“It’s not a dragon, it’s—“ A roar from the monster cut her off, and Sorey tumbled backward from the sudden air pressure.  His head laced with pain, and he ducked with his hands over his ears, briefly looking around and seeing his friends doing the same.

The seraphim’s forms shivered momentarily, and a second later they all came rushing back into Sorey. A  chorus of talk erupted inside his skull, and in addition to the roar, he could barely make sense of what was going on. The hellion seemed to be trying to convey its thoughts outward, and it made his head spin even faster.

“Guys! Shut up! One by one!” That was Mikleo.

“Okay, fine. But I don’t see how we can beat this _thing_ here by ourselves, with our current equipment,” Edna grumbled.

“Sorey! This is just a really powerful hellion. It seems to be overwhelmed by its residual thoughts as a human!” Lailah appeared beside him, just as the roaring stopped. “It seems to be a wingless dragon—“

“Maybe it doesn’t have wings because it came from a human?” Zaveid added, jumping to help Rose stand. He was growled at by Dezel, who shooed him away.

“There were such things as ‘wingless dragons’ in the world, you know. They were called—“

“We’re not talking about your pet lizard, Meebo.”

“Would you—I’m talking about dinosaurs! Dinosaurs, Edna!”

“Rose! Try and see if you can get at its legs, and don’t get hit!” Sorey staggered to stand, and picked up his sword. “Mikleo!”

“You got it!” Rose sent him a thumbs up, and Mikleo appeared.

“Let’s go, Sorey!”

“Luzrov Rulay!”

“Lukeim Yurlin!”

The rest of the party rushed the hellion as Sorey and Mikleo stood back, stringing an arrow in between their fingertips. The mystical bow strained with the power, and Sorey struggled to keep his arm steady. Mikleo breathed out, relaxing their posture.

Mikleo stretched the arrow back even farther, and then released.

“Arrow Squall!”

Their friends scattered as the volley of arrows rushed down to pierce the monster; it roared with even greater intensity. Mikleo’s voice was drowned out as the armatus broke, and the two fell apart. Sorey held his head, grinding his jaw as another, more unfamiliar voice sounded inside his head.

_No! It’s not fair! Why do they have all of that? Why can’t I have the same thing? Why can’t I be like them? Why can’t I be them!_

The roar ceased, and Rose and Dezel rushed forward, not sparing a second.

“Come, divine wings! Swarm the skies! Sylphystia!”

A torrent of blades rained down from the sky, and the hellion wailed in agony; a bright light emitted from the reptile, and it swallowed everything in a flash.

_You, too… ! Why!?_

{--+--}

Mikleo opened his eyes, groaning. What happened… ? Didn’t the hellion release an attack at the very last second? Where was everyone else? He shot up, glancing around. Edna’s form lay a ways to his left, and in front of him Rose was just stirring. Dezel was still unconscious, and Lailah was shaking Alisha.

“What? Why am I over here? Am I dead? Oh dear, this terrible, what will the kingdom do without me? Surely they would be devastated by the loss; who will guide Hyland to a new dawn? Oh dear—“ Lailah promptly looked down, and gave a very… uncharacteristic shriek. She looked up and spotted Mikleo, and started to rush towards him.

“Sorey! Sorey, what’s going on! I’m not dead, right? But why am I dressed like Lailah?”

“Huh? What do you mean Lailah, I’m not—“ His voice sounded like… It finally clicked, and Mikleo’s head snapped around to his right, where… his body was. _What the fuck?_ “I—Alisha, I’m Mikleo! This is—“

He turned to look at Rose, who had the most dumbstruck expression on her face.

“What the hell? You all look so fucking different than what I imagined?”

“Dezel?”

“W-Wait a second, this is—“ Alisha turned around in circles, looking at everyone.

“I CAN’T SEE! I CAN’T FREAKIN’ SEE WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?” Dezel’s body popped up from the floor. “I’m sure my eyes are open! Completely sure!” his hands were running all over his face; “I don’t remember having bangs—“ He suddenly stopped, and reached on top of his head, probing for the felt hat. There was a long silence. Then, “Guys, I’ve turned into a tool.”

“What the hell is that supposed to mean!?” Rose yelled, grabbing for the felt hat. “This is mine!”

“Hey, it’s not my fault your hat was already on your fuckin’ body when I got here!”

“Woah.” His own voice next to him made Mikleo jump, and he looked to see violet eyes that used to belong to him staring straight into his.

“Uh-Umm…”

“Is that you, Mikleo? Why are you in my body?”

“Yeah—Hey—wait a second, why are you so calm about this!?” Mikleo stood as Sorey did, and they looked over each other.

“What do you mean, we’re together all the time, so this is just a slight change from usual.”

“Wh—But you’re _in my body and I’m in yours._ ”

“Yeah but don’t you do that as seraphim anyway?”

“This is completely different!!” Though, Mikleo did gain a hint of satisfaction for being a couple inches taller than his best friend. Finally. Alisha was still shaking a very unconscious Lailah, and a ways away, Zaveid was…

“Get. Out. Of. My. Body.” Zaveid stomped up towards Edna, pointing a finger at her. Or rather... Edna was advancing on Zaveid. “You. Get out. Switch with me. Now.”

“Aww C’mon, little lady, don’t you find this in the least bit fun?” He looked over his new set of arms, swinging the umbrella and twirling.

“No. No it doesn’t. You’re dead,” she was practically trembling with rage.

“Aw… That’s no fun~” He made a cutesy pose to mimic his sickly sweet voice, and Edna loomed over him, raising a fist. “Wait—Wait—Wait—you can’t hit me, you’ll bruise, right? When you go back into your body you’ll be in pain! So you—“ Edna stopped her fist right as it was about to connect.

“You’re dead. Once I get back into my body. You. Are. Dead.”

“Ah… It seems I have finally… ascended…” Lailah was more than a bit shaken up, and Alisha’s attention snapped back to the fire seraph. Her grip on the other was bruising.

“Lady Lailah! Please, I beg you, open your eyes! We must right this situation… I must find a way to get my body back!”

“Alisha… I think you’re making it worse,” Mikleo said, prompting the knight to let go of her body with a gasp. Lailah fell to the floor, and Alisha stood, covering her mouth with her hands.

“Oh! Oh dear, I’m so sorry! I…” She suddenly trailed off, looking down at her chest. Her face went cherry red. “Uh… This is… a lot different from what I’m used to…”

“So… what should we do now?” Mikleo looked over to see Sorey rubbing a strand of white hair in between his fingertips. “I mean… Is there any way we can reverse this? That hellion seemed to be pretty caught up in their negativity, so there’s no telling how powerful the spell was....”

“Well… Maybe we should go report back to the old lady?” Mikleo crossed his arms. “But then, wouldn’t we have to pretend to be each other?” Sorey shrugged.

“No, Rose, you have to _feel_ the wind around you to see your surroundings. You can’t just—“

“That’s bullshit! Absolute bull shit, I want my eyesight back you asshole! I can’t see!” Dezel looked like he was trying really hard not to yell, supporting a very blind Rose while the two were trying to walk to the rest of the group.

“I get that, which is why I'm trying to tell you—“

“And I’m saying I don’t get a word of what you’re saying! What the hell is this, anyway!?” Rose yelled over towards Lailah. “Hey! Lailah, you’ve had to deal with this before, right? What’s gonna happen to us?”

“Like, who knows guys… We just, like, are going to be stuck like this forever? But like… it couldn’t be all that bad… Right?” Zaveid twirled a strand of blonde hair around his fingertips, mimicking a young farm girl the group had met once upon a time. Edna was surrounded by a dark aura.

Mikleo massaged his temples, sighing.

“A-actually… this kind of spell should wear off… I think.” Lailah wobbled to stand, looking over at Alisha. “Yeah… we should be ourselves… um. In a couple…”

“A couple? In a couple what, Lailah?” Edna paced around.

“Um… I’m not sure. It could be anywhere from a couple minutes to a couple years…”

“Years!?” Rose pushed Dezel away, stumbling towards the sound of Lailah’s voice. “Years? I’m going to be blind as a bat for years?”

“Thanks,” Dezel grumbled.

“Let’s devise a way to turn back to normal so I don’t have to be half-naked for lord knows how long.” Edna stole back her umbrella from Zaveid, who pouted.

“Yes, all we’ll have to do is gain some _head_ way in what kind of spell this is… and then hopefully we can remedy—“

“No! Lady Lailah, please! Do not make such crude jokes with my voice!”

Edna snorted, trying to cover up her reaction with her umbrella. It just wasn’t the same.

“It’s okay! No _body_ panic! We’re just a little _mixed_ up, it’ll just take a bit of research!”

“Lady Lailah! I beg of you!”

“We’ve got some good _heads_ on our shoulders, if we combine them, then we’ll—“

“Miss Lailah!”

“Ow!”

“What is it, Rose?”

“Your teeth are friggin’ sharp! How the hell do you even speak?”

“Wha—Be more careful, Idiot!”

“It’s not my fault you’re a fucking shark! Oh wait... you don’t usually speak.”

“Who’re you calling a shark? And I speak when I need to!”

“Which is never, because you have nothing helpful to—“ Rose tripped over a rock, and she let out a string of curses. “I’m done! I’m so done, I can’t see shit! Sorey, this would be a great time to have some kinda miracle!”

“Huh? But what does a miracle have to do with me?”

“I’m not talking to you, Mikleo! I—Wait a second, are you two switched too? Oh man… this is too great. If only I could see.”

“You… already make too many jabs at my eyesight… But are you serious right now?”

“It’s not my fault I had perfect eyesight and suddenly have nothing!”

“Guys… I like, think we should just like, get out of this dungeon?” Zaveid giggled, and everyone stared at him. Even Rose, who just turned her head in his general direction.

“Guys what the fuck is wrong with Edna?”

“That’s Zaveid, Rose. Not Edna,” Mikleo groaned, watching Edna finally whack the other with her umbrella.  The wind seraph let out a sharp, “Ow!” and ran away.

“Get back here. You’re dead meat.”

Dezel ended up carrying Rose out of the ruins, which was certainly a sight; Mikleo and Sorey just talked on as usual, and Alisha still looked very flushed. She gripped the dress, trying to make sure it didn’t drag, and when she wasn’t doing that, she was staring down at her chest, and then back at her own body. Lailah moved stiffly under Alisha’s armor, and Edna looked over herself with disgust. Zaveid was... skipping.

“So, what now?”

“Now… I guess we just try to live life,” Lailah murmured, starting to take off the armor.

“W-Wait! Lady Lailah, please don’t remove those! If we were to get attacked—“

“If we were to get attacked, we’d all probably die anyway. None of us know how to use our powers,” Edna said.

“Always the voice of reason, aren’t you?” Mikleo quipped.

“What, am I supposed to be happy for this situation just because you finally have the height you want?”

“Wha—That’s not it!”

“Guys… I’m hungry…” Rose’s stomach growled.

“…Let’s all go to the inn! There we can rest up and decide our next move!” Sorey turned to address everyone. “After all, a plan’s a lot better on a full stomach!”

“That’s as good a plan to me as anything!” Lailah put her hands together, eyes sparkling. “Let’s get some of that famous stew again! Also, maybe this time we can try some snails?”

“Definitely not,” Edna growled.

“I’d have to agree with Edna this time,” Mikleo muttered.

“What kind of snails? Hopefully not those slimy, long ones we see on the trees all the time back home…”

“No, Sorey, those are slugs. Snails have shells.”

“How do you eat the shell?”

“You don’t? I’m pretty sure you—“

“Well, I’m sure I saw a spe _shell_ on them tonight, so we _shell_ d be able to afford it!”

“L-Lady Lailah… I’m begging you… The citizens of Hyland would not be so welcoming of such humor…”

“Don’t worry, Alisha! We are not in Hyland, so there will be no _conch_ equences.”

The group collectively groaned, and began to make their way down toward the inn. When they sat down to eat, Lailah got her snails. She was right about the special. Nobody was willing to try the new food with her, though, and Alisha looked horrified to see Lailah swallow.

After the meal, the switched pairs made sure to keep their eyes on the other. Edna’s reason was obvious, and Rose couldn’t see, so Dezel was her guide. Lailah just tucked a sleeping Alisha into a bed at the inn, and Mikleo and Sorey walked outside.

“It’s late, but do you think we should go visit the old woman?” Sorey glanced slightly up at Mikleo.

“No, it’s way too late for that. We should just wait until tomorrow.”

“Hmm… Do you think we could fool the others into thinking that we were switched back?”

“Of course!” Mikleo stopped, regarding his friend in complete confidence. “I could imitate you perfectly.”

“Do you wanna try it?”

“Well, I’d say yes, but there’s no one to even try it on.”

“Tomorrow, then?” Mikleo nodded.

“Tomorrow.”

They finished their walk, coming back to the inn. Mikleo expected to come back to the whole place in ruins (mostly because of Zaveid and Edna) but was surprised to see it still standing, and quiet to boot. Rose had already fallen asleep, and Dezel was in the process of carrying her to a room.

“Hey, guys...” Dezel paused, as if contemplating what he was going to say.

“Yeah?”

“Do you… Do you think we should try and sleep too? I feel weird.”

“I think so… Since you and I are in human bodies, I believe that we,” Mikleo yawned, and seemed completely confused for a second. “Yeah. We probably won’t be able to help it.”

Dezel just nodded, and continued into the room.

Sorey and Mikleo shrugged, and continued down the hall. Zaveid was already splayed out on a bed with his eyes closed. In Edna’s body. Edna was sitting in the chair across from the bed, with a book open in her lap.

Mikleo snorted at the sight, and Edna looked up. She narrowed her eyes, as if daring the water seraph to say something undesirable.

“S-Sorry… It’s just that… Zaveid… reading a book…”

“Hey, Sheps, I read!”

“Actually, that’s me,” Sorey said, exchanging a glance with Mikleo.

“We all know _you_ read, Mikleo. Damn.”

“It’s a lost cause. Don’t even pursue it,” Edna grumbled. “It pains me to know he’s being stupid in my body.”

Sorey laughed, and the two of them backed out to find another room.

“Definitely not sleeping near them tonight,” Mikleo whispered. Sorey nodded.

“Not with that atmosphere…”

{--+--}

The next morning, Sorey woke to Zaveid screaming, following a series huge booms that shook the inn. He ran down the hall to find the room Edna and Zaveid were in to be completely demolished and open to the outside; Edna, back in her own body, was currently pursuing a fleeing Zaveid down the cobblestone road.

“Looks like we’re all back to normal…” Mikleo rubbed his eyes, walking up from behind Sorey. Sorey just laughed, looking down to his familiar cape and boots.

“Too bad, we didn’t get to fool them.”

“Yeah,” Mikleo snickered. “Too bad.”

 


End file.
